Students at 2013 Ag and Environmental Awareness Day detect a pig's heartbeat using ultrasound.

Some 600 elementary students and their teachers will meet at UH Mānoa’s 30-acre Urban Garden Center in Pearl City on Friday, March 7, when the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ O‘ahu Cooperative Extension Office and Office of Academic and Student Affairs host the 2014 O‘ahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day.

Among the many crowd-pleasing ag-themed interactive exhibits will be several new displays, including a demonstration of herbicide ballistic technology, in which paintball-type pellets filled with herbicide are shot at invasive weed trees in hard-to-reach areas. Also new this year will be a presentation on CTAHR’s cooperation with the crew of the voyaging canoe Hikianalia to create growing systems for fresh greens on the voyage, and representatives from the Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership will discuss their efforts to protect the forested areas of the Ko‘olaus.

Students and teachers from Kalihi Elementary, Kalihi Kai Elementary, Kalihi Uka Elementary, Kalihi Waena Elementary, Kauluwela Elementary, Lunalilo Elementary, Pauoa Elementary, and Pu‘uhale Elementary will attend this annual event, which serves a two-fold purpose: To create a greater awareness and understanding of agriculture and the environment among today’s students, teachers, and the general public; and to introduce students to career opportunities in agriculture and environmental studies on O‘ahu and throughout the state.

The following day, Saturday, March 8, will be the Urban Garden Center’s Second Saturday event, which will feature many of the same exhibitors from the day before, as well as the workshop “Pruning and Caring for Fruit Trees,” at which certified arborists from the Aloha Arborist Association will show how to maximize fruit from backyard fruit trees.

WHAT: O‘ahu Agriculture and Environmental Awareness Day

WHO: UH-Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

O‘ahu Cooperative Extension Office

Office of Academic and Student Affairs

Students and teachers invited

WHEN: Friday, March 7, 2014 (schools)

8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Estimated peak activity: 10 a.m. (A representative from the City and County of Honolulu, which has provided generous funding for this year’s event, will give a short welcome address at 10:15 a.m.)